Iowa Lutheran Hospital

Iowa Lutheran Hospital has a long history of serving the Des Moines community and Central Iowa. The hospital has 224 staffed beds and specializes in maternity services, emergency and trauma treatment, chemical dependency treatment, behavioral medicine, general surgery, critical care, transitional and skilled care services and home health care.

Established in 1914 by Swedish-American Lutherans, the hospital's services soon expanded beyond the walls of its original building and denominational origins. The hospital's history has been filled with firsts. It founded America's first polio clinic (1942), Des Moines' first kidney dialysis center (1971) and Iowa's first multiple sclerosis center (1988).

Education has always played an important role at Iowa Lutheran. The hospital established its School of Nursing in 1914, training many generations of Iowa nurses. Many of Iowa Lutheran's graduates served in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II.

Iowa Lutheran is also home to one of Iowa's largest, private hospital-based mental health facilities. Combining advanced medical care with psychiatric diagnostic and treatment capabilities, it addresses mental illness and emotional or behavioral problems alike. Lutheran's capabilities include child and adolescent psychiatry.

Powell Chemical Dependency Center at Iowa Lutheran has been a leader in Iowa and across the nation in developing treatment programs for chemically affected people. The center has treated individuals for more than 25 years.

The outpatient services area at Iowa Lutheran consists of a variety of outpatient service departments, including regional infusion therapy, X-ray, outpatient surgery and endoscopy.

Iowa Lutheran has an outstanding hospital auxiliary, one of the oldest and largest in the nation, founded in 1910 prior to the hospital's opening. In addition to providing many kinds of support services for the hospital, the Auxiliary has been responsible for several major fundraising efforts-over a million dollars in the 1990s alone. Auxiliary dollars have raised funds for the surgical waiting room and the breast health center as well as many other areas of the hospital.